The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume II
(1914) compiles some of Percy Bysshe Shelley's best-known works as
a leading poet, playwright, and political thinker of the nineteenth
century. As a leading figure among the English Romantics, Shelley
was a master of poetic form and tradition who recognized the need
for radical change in the social order. His work has influenced
such writers and intellectuals as Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, W. B.
Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. In "Ozymandias," Shelley employs
the language of archaeology to mask one of the greatest political
poems of all time. The sonnet depicts a statue of an ancient king
discovered in the Egyptian desert. Barely visible above the
shifting sand, its pedestal reads "'My name is Ozymandias, king of
kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'" Juxtaposed
with this language of bluster, the three remaining lines dispel the
myth of power with expert precision: "Nothing beside remains. Round
the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare / The lone
and level sands stretch far away." For Shelley, who identifies with
the knowing, mischievous sculptor, the dominion of kings is nothing
but hubris, a grain of sand in the vast expanse of time. In "To a
Skylark," Shelley immortalizes the song of a bird heard once and
remembered forever: "The blue deep thou wingest, / And singing
still dost soar, and soaring ever singest." As he longs to know the
bird in order to mimic the celebratory nature of its song, Shelley
reaches an understanding of the human condition, the tragic
temperament of those who "look before and after, / And pine for
what is not." Unlike the poet, who must struggle to achieve his
song, the skylark soars and sings and remains above the world of
men, whose "sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought."
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset
manuscript, this edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Complete
Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume II is a classic of
English literature reimagined for modern readers.
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